Self-adjusting hat-stay.



SELF ADJUSTING HAT STAY.

APPUCATIO EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE 5.

1 1 78, 1 2 3 Patented Apr. 4, 1916.

' lr' W H w Inventor; I'ramk E. Barnickte FFIC.

FRANK E. BARNICKLE, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

SELF-ADJUSTING HAT-STAY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 4,1916.

Application filed September 28, 1915. Serial No. 53,020.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK E. BARNICKLE, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Self-Adjusting Hat-Stays, of which the following is a specification.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved device to be interposed between a hat and the sweat band therefor, which will prevent the hat from being blown off in a wind or under similar conditions; one also which will automatically adjust the hat to the head, so as to insure a good fit when the relative sizes of the hat and the head have changed, as when the hat becomes stretched or after a hair cut, so that the wearer can enjoy a perfect fit at all times, and will also preserve the outside of the hat from deterioration due to the passage of perspiration from the sweat band of the hat.

A further object of the invention is to produce a simple and inexpensive device which will be exceedingly effective for the above purposes.

In the accompanying drawing, Figures 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of a hat equipped with my invention; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the device detached; Fig. 3 is a front view thereof detached.

Referring to the drawing, 1 indicates a hat of ordinary construction having a sweat band 2. Between the inner surface of the hat and the sweat band is inserted my improved device which consists of a long, comparatively narrow, strip 3 of thin, tough and elastic sheet material. I have found celluloid a suitable material, but my invention is by no means restricted thereto. Said strip 3 is made with a longitudinal series of transverse undulations 4, each preferably of approximately the same width as the width of the strip. The lower edge 5 of the strip isconvex to enable it to fit along its whole length against the bottom of the recess between the hat and-the sweat band. When this strip 3 is inserted between the hat and the sweat band, either at the front or at the back of the hat, it causes the hat to be self adjusting in size to the head of the wearer. This is due to the fact that the undulations 4 are of great length compared with their depth and also the fact that the material of the strip 3 is thin, tough and elastic, and therefore easily bends under pressure, so that, even with comparatively slight pressure, the strip 3 is flattened out. Thus, if a hat fits closely around the head, the strip 3 is compressed sufliciently so that it lies fiat and closely between the hat and the sweat band, but if the hat is loose around the head then the strip 2 retains its undulatory form, and the pressure of the portions of the strip against the hat and sweat band tend to retain the hat securely on the head even though the hat would otherwise be quite loose thereon. A hat furnished with my device may therefore be termed self-adjusting.

I am aware that it has been proposed to provide a hat with a sweat band formed of thin sheet aluminum or other hard metal and fluted or having transversely extending corrugations, but the object of this sweat band was simply to prevent sweat passing from the head of the wearer to the hat and it was never intended that the sweat band should be flattened out by pressure between the hat and the head, nor could it be so flatten ed out without injury to the wearer of the hat, partly because the material of which it is formed was too hard to flatten out without great pressure, and partly because the corrugations in the sweat band were too abrupt to permit of such flattening out.

My invention is distinguished from said prior devices in that the undulations of the strip are very gentle and of small depth in proportion to their length and also that the material of the strip is thin and elastic so as to straighten out under moderate pressure.

I claim In combination with a hat having a sweat band, a strip of thin resilient material readily yieldable to adjust itself to the head of the wearer, said strip having a longitudinal series of gentle undulations, each of great length in proportion to its depth, interposed between the hat and the sweat band.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRANK E. BARNICKLE.

Witnesses:

F. M. WRIGHT, D. B. RICHARDS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

